Emerge Enterprises Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237098388
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
6127873796
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Employment Procurement Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,098,760
Expenses
$2,556,105
Assets
$6,991,131
Liabilities
$1,743,049

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHAEL WYNNE (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL WYNNE (PRESIDENT & CEO): $240,453 total reported compensation
  • KEVIN ENGDAHL (EXECUTIVE VP OF ENTERPRISES): $161,237 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Emerge enterprises, inc. Operates sustainable social enterprises that empower people facing employment barriers to re-enter the workforce and achieve life-long success within their communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Emerge enterprises consists of environmentally focused social enterprise businesses that provide crucial transitional jobs and wrap around support to people returning to community from incarceration. Second chance recycling and furnish office and home provide 100 transitional employment opportunities per year while reducing waste through mattress recycling and sales of gently used office furniture. In 2025, 103 participants worked in transitional jobs at emerge enterprise businesses-second chance recycling and furnish office and home-and nearly 90,000 mattresses and 265 tons of used furniture were diverted from landfills. In addition, second chance removal was launched as a new social enterprise, which provides eco-friendly office furniture removal solutions for businesses that are relocating, downsizing, orupgrading their workspaces.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 76% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 91.9%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.5%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.74; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $240K · 16 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $245K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.